Here’s something I posted on Facebook yesterday, which I thought I’d share with you, along with a photographic seasonal greeting.

Audrey, Rhonda and I would like to wish you and yours the very hippiest and most preposterous new year…oh, wait, I mean…

…you know what, that’ll do.

I’d like to wish all the people I disagree with a very Merry Christmas.

To be honest, there aren’t too many people who I agree with on EVERYTHING, I’m way too much of an argumentative bastard for that, but there are some friends with whom I disagree on a more fundamental level than why I’m right that Genesis are shit, or why it’s bloody obvious NOBODY should put anchovies on pizza.

It’s often the case that friendships, alliances and relationships are impacted by differences of opinion on religion, politics, sex, social issues, sports, gender identity/equality and just about anything else we’re capable of being offended about; but the last couple of years or so have tested those bonds of friendship to breaking point and in some cases those relationships haven’t survived.

Which is very sad and can only go further to separate us into little bubbles of one-sided information and prejudice, a self-perpetuating cycle of distrust and suspicion which only makes any future reconciliation that much more difficult.

This is doubly true in a world where a total stranger from the other side of the country might pick a fight with you on the internet for no reason other than you put a cross in a slightly different place on a piece of paper…or they may just be an asshole, of course.

So although I am eternally grateful for the old, lasting friendships which have coloured my view of humanity since childhood, I’m increasingly appreciative of those of you who I may have only known a relatively short time and who stick with me, despite (or because of) our differing views and opinions.
Because it is only with that balance and continual questioning of the “accepted facts” in our own personal universe, that can help us process any opposing worldview and move toward a more peaceful understanding of each other.

So thanks again to those of you who go the extra mile to remain my friend, I wouldn’t be without any of you.

Have a great Christmas and may 2019 be awesome in all the ways that make you happy in your world, just as long as it isn’t at the expense of someone else in theirs.

Peace.
X